Gradually, her shuddering calmed. Reality slowly returned. The earth became the place she lived in instead of a mere memory to someone lost in the stars. But radiance lingered like the last glow of light on the horizon after a perfect summer day.
Opening dazed eyes, she found Gideon staring down at her in wonder. His lips tilted in a smile that, did he but know it, told her he loved her as she loved him.
She was exhausted, spent, lost in languorous joy. Her joints were so loose, she felt like a rag doll. He could pound her into oblivion now, and she wouldn’t utter a squeak of protest.
He looked equally strained. She suddenly realized he hadn’t yet found relief. Shocked, she made an almighty effort and reached out to touch his chest. One glancing contact, and her hand flopped back to her side. Her muscles had the resistance of woolen stuffing.
She quivered from the extraordinary conflagration that had swept her up into blissful oblivion. She’d had no idea. Nothing in her life had prepared her for those transforming moments in his arms.
Gideon released a shaky breath and began to shift in and out of her body in a leisurely glide. The soft friction soothed. He bent to lick the peak of one breast.
“I can’t…” she protested on a dying whisper.
“I know,” he soothed, drawing her nipple between his lips.
Sluggish response trickled down to where his body joined hers. He slid out and, with excruciating slowness, slid back in. He bit down softly on the pebbled peak.
She sighed, and this time when he moved, she rose to meet him. Immediately she felt new heat. The joining was deep and essential. An expression of love as much as desire.
Again, she stifled words he didn’t want to hear. But her every heartbeat declared she loved him.
Instinctively, she rolled her hips, testing the sensation. He groaned against her breast and released her nipple to trace kisses across her collarbone. She laced her fingers in his thick hair, then gasped as he dragged her up to sit before him, still joined flesh to flesh.
He gazed into her face with the fixed concentration that was now familiar. A premonitory thrill shook her, made interior muscles tighten. His hands were ruthless, demanding, as he grabbed her hips and began to slide her up and down.
Her fog of satiated exhaustion, so overwhelming only minutes ago, vanished in an electric instant. Her legs automatically curled around him. She gripped his arms for balance. Desire bloomed in her belly.
She soon caught the rhythm. With a velvety laugh, he let her have her way. He leaned back on his hands, yielding to the summons of her pleasure.
The pleasure was astonishing.
Until now, it had never occurred to her that she could control what happened between them. The power, the delight made her head swim. She arched back, relishing the push and release inside her. He made her feel like a goddess. He made her feel like a woman in love.
Her breath escaped in broken gasps. She edged closer to another of those extraordinary peaks. Closer but not there. She sobbed and twisted, struggling to reach what she wanted.
“Not yet, my darling,” he whispered. He rolled and pressed her down into the mattress. She cried out and twined her legs around his hips. Still, he moved in and out of her body. Relentless as the tide.
His bare, scarred skin was hot, slippery under her clinging hands. He groaned and trembled.
For her.
That knowledge shuddered through her like a cannon blast. With every thrust, he stole another inch of her soul.
Except he’d owned her soul from the first.
Soon, his movements became faster, wilder, less controlled. His chest heaved as he fought for breath.
Charis lost contact with everything but the hard male body that ruled her. Tension wound around her until it was unendurable.
Tighter and tighter.
Still he plunged in and out. Her fingers dug into his arms so deeply that they hurt.
Blackness pressed down. Surely it must end. Yet still the need built higher, red-hot copper wires that stretched every sinew.
She gasped for air. Her lungs ceased to function. Blindly, she pressed toward Gideon, the source of her agony, her only hope of release.
This was stronger, deeper, more overwhelming than what had happened before.